Star Fox: Beneath the Raptor's Wings
by Eamon Gallagher
Summary: The planet of Cerinia has been destroyed, and a young Cerinian vixen named Krystal is determined to find out who is responsible and why her home was targeted. Her search for answers leads her to cross paths with Fox McCloud of the Star Fox team, and pulls her into a war between the Romulan Star Empire and the newly formed Romulan Republic.
**A/N: I do not own any characters from either the Star Fox or Star Trek universes. They belong to their respective owners. For entertainment purposes only.**

 _What we knew is gone. Our home, our lives, all that we were…dust. Blasted across empty, heartless skies. But we live. Our legacy lives – within every ship we fly, upon every world we touch, in our hearts. There will be challenge. We will know fear. But we will overcome, we will survive, and answer vengeance with blood. We will do as we must. Rule cannot be handed to the faithless. Our legacy cannot be lost to villains! Bury the past to face the future! In enemies, find allies. There is no price we have not paid, no loss we have not felt. Our dead world, our long suffering – these are not ends! We are not ended! For our people, for our new home, we must face all doubt. We must break the strong who would destroy us and overcome the impossible! We must fight against any and all! We must! We will! For we are Romulan!_

Star Fox: Beneath the Raptor's Wings

 **Prologue: New Life and New Civilizations**

Stardate 50804.13 (April 13, 2408). Starfleet science vessel USS _Trident_ NCC 95581 was performing a routine survey of the Arucanis Arm, a star cluster at the far reaches of Celes Sector of the Beta Quadrant. The Arucanis Arm was a long string of star systems, most of them surrounded by bright nebulae and stellar nurseries, which gave this region a colorful beauty only possible in the scale of interstellar space. On the planets that were found within this region of space, nighttime brought out a brilliant light show that seemed to set the skies on fire. There were a number of inhabited star systems within this region, a few of which were members of the United Federation of Planets. Many that were not members were at least aware of the Federation and had some sort of relationship with them. Though there were still a vast number of planets whose technological level was pre-warp, some of them were on the brink of "breaking the light barrier." These planets and these civilizations were what captured Starfleet's attention. The chance to make first contact with an alien race that was just about to cross the warp threshold and join the interstellar community was what many in Starfleet dreamed of. For some, that was their primary reason for joining Starfleet. Of course, first contact did come with risks. No one knew exactly how a civilization would react when they discovered that they were not alone in the universe. Some alien races operated on the belief that they were the sole life forms in the galaxy and learning otherwise otherwise could sometimes have serious repercussions for both themselves and for their alien visitors. It was not unheard of for an alien race to act with great hostility towards First Contact teams. In the 24th Century, Captain Jean-Luc Picard met with hostility from a Minister Krola, a member of a race known as the Malcorians. The Malcorians were on the brink of developing warp drive and thus were deemed ready for first contact. Unwilling to accept the existence of alien life, Minister Krola attempted to kill himself and frame Picard's first officer, Commander William Riker. Many other Malcorians were as suspicious of the alien visitors as Krola and the Malcorians were not the only alien race to experience this kind of prejudice. After the incident on Malcor III, the Federation had experienced seven more similar first contact incidents, despite careful planning and surveillance. Still, the risks were worth the chance to welcome new alien races into the interstellar community, to be the first to speak to members of these new civilizations. Such was a great opportunity.

On board the _Trident_ was a prominent science student from Starfleet Academy, named Fay Spaniel. Fay was from a system within the Arucanis Arm, called the Lylat System. Her homeworld was the fourth planet, Corneria. She was a Cornerian white collie, bipedal and standing at just shy of 5'6". She had deep blue eyes which, according to her boyfriend, were remarkably beautiful. Her most prominent feature was her hair. Most Cornerians, being humanoid animals, mainly canines, only had fur, but about twenty percent actually had hair, the trait being most common among females. Fay's hair fell down just low enough to envelope her shoulders and the top of her back. Fay was something of a prodigy at the Academy, standing first in her science classes and being granted entry into the new science division of the elite Red Squad, a special group of cadets that received hands-on training and special classes. This counted toward the cadets' future careers in Starfleet, helping them to advance more rapidly than most.

For this mission, Fay was acting science officer for an assignment that most in Starfleet would consider routine. It was a simple mission to corroborate the region's star maps. For Fay, though, this was an exciting opportunity. True, she hailed from here, but she had never had a chance to fully explore the systems beyond her own. The Cornerians were still somewhat isolationist, despite being members of the Federation. Moreover, this chain of star systems was still vast and much was still left to be discovered in this region. In the past two years, Starfleet had made first contact with three alien races in the Arucanis Arm, discovered five on the brink of warp drive and many more pre-warp civilizations that were worth studying.

Fay was at her station, manning the night shift for the day, covering for the assigned officer who had fallen ill due to a rather stubborn virus. Fay had needed to drink more than her usual amount of coffee to stay awake, but she nonetheless retained her cheerful, bubbly attitude, one of the traits many around her admired and even envied at times. The bridge during the night watch was rather dull, especially on this kind of a mission. Only four officers were on the bridge, each attending to his or her own work, so conversation was not entirely stimulating. The only thing that broke the silence was the constant low rumble of the ship's warp engines, which everyone on board had become accustomed to since the _Trident'_ s departure from Earth. Occasionally, the rumble was accompanied by a light cough or a sneeze, or, with any luck, a crewman asking for data from another officer's console. Besides that, no one had much energy to start up a conversation, not that there was much to discuss at this time of night. Not even Fay had the energy to talk to anyone, despite her upbeat attitude. Luckily, the chance for some verbal communication stepped out of the turbolift in the form of Fay's commanding officer.

"Good morning, Miss Spaniel," the _Trident_ 's captain said as she entered the bridge.

"Oh, good morning, sir," Fay replied. "Is it really morning already?"

"0130 hours, Miss Spaniel," the captain replied, an amused tone in her voice.

"Oh my. I think the coffee might have gone to my head too quickly," Fay replied with a giggle. Captain Jane Morrison, a human science officer, returned with a chuckle, amused at the bubbly nature of the cadet on her bridge.

"Do you have a status report, Miss Spaniel?"

"We have the computer working on the final corroboration for this quadrant, sir. After that, we can move on to the final quadrant. We also received a communiqué from the research team on Atruna III, text only. They say that their long range communications arrays are experiencing a few malfunctions and they aren't able to send in their full report. They're requesting we head to the Atruna System as soon as we're able to."

"If they're having problems with their communications, how did they send us the communiqué?" Captain Morrison asked.

"From what I can tell, it only works in short bursts," Fay replied. "It looks like they attempted to send us a list of supplies they needed as well, but it got cut off before the whole thing got through."

Captain Morrison looked at the message to see that the relatively short list of supplies, including numerous medical supplies, got cut off before the research team could fully spell out that they needed replacement food replicators.

"Hmm. Helm, how much time would a detour to the Atruna System at warp seven add to our current mission?" Captain Morrison asked the helmsman.

"Approximately 33 hours, captain," the helmsman replied. Captain Morrison thought about it for a moment before nodding her head.

"I suppose that's acceptable. We wouldn't want to leave our research team without a proper meal would we?"

"Sir?" the helmsman replied.

"Nothing. Nothing. Set a course for the Atruna System. Miss Spaniel, send a message to Starfleet Command. Tell them we'll be a little late reporting in."

"Aye, captain," Fay said. "And sir, our course will take us close to the Cerinia System. If I'm right, Starfleet needs to drop new orbital probes around Cerinia IV. I don't think it should take too long. Maybe thirty minutes."

"Helm, correction. Lay in a course for Cerinia IV. Warp factor seven," Captain Morrison said.

"Course and speed laid in, sir."

"Engage."

Upon the captain's command the _Trident_ went to warp.

"Miss Spaniel."

"Yes, captain?" Fay replied.

"Why don't you stop by the lab and help set up the orbital probes before you go off duty? Cadet Lynx will assist you."

"I'll get right on it, captain," Fay said as she left her station.

"And Miss Spaniel, why don't you go ahead and sleep in a bit tomorrow morning? I can't have my science officer falling asleep on the job."

"Thank you, captain," Fay replied as she stepped into the turbolift and headed to the engineering lab.

Fay could definitely say that she was looking forward to going off duty, though there was definitely a residual effect from the coffee that she had been consuming over the course of her duties. She had felt a similar feeling before, whenever she was studying for her final exams: too tired to do anymore work, but too much caffeine in her system to go to sleep. Luckily for her, programming the probes wouldn't be too much of a task and the crewman she had been covering for would be released from sickbay soon. As soon as those probes were programmed, Fay had plans to return to her quarters and sleep until the _Trident_ reached Atruna III. After this night shift, 30 hours sounded rather nice.

Fay giggled inwardly at the thought as the doors to the turbolift opened and she stepped out onto the engineering deck and headed down the hall to lab, a loud yawn echoing through the hall as she made her way. Normally, she would have been a little embarrassed, considering the hallways tended to carry sound quite well, but this time she was too tired to care. After a few more meters, Fay rounded the corner and entered the lab, where she was greeted by a familiar face.

"Was that your yawn, Fay?" asked Miyu Lynx, a fellow cadet and friend of Fay's.

"Yep," Fay replied. "That's the last time I'm doing a double shift."

Miyu chuckled at Fay's state. "I haven't seen you this run down since our starship tactics final last semester."

Miyu was a Cornerian lynx that had signed up with Fay for Starfleet Academy three years earlier. She was a few inches taller than Fay with dark blue eyes. She had proven herself to be quite a talented engineer and a valuable member of Red Squad. Though, in recent years, she had taken on more exploration cruises, claiming that one year on the frontlines of the Klingon-Federation War was enough for a few years. That excitement would come with a full Starfleet uniform.

"Well, thankfully all I have to do before I go off duty is get these orbital probes programmed and launched," Fay replied.

"We're running diagnostics on the last few probes now," Miyu said. "You wanna grab a black tea from the replicator to help keep you up long enough?"

"Miyu, the last thing I need is more caffeine in my blood right now."

The two girls giggled, though Miyu looked at Fay with concern, seeing her eyes beginning to droop a bit.

"Brings back memories of finals week for sure," Miyu said. "Too tired, but too much coffee. Maybe you should grab a sedative from sickbay."

"I was thinking the same thing," Fay replied, letting out another loud yawn.

As the diagnostics were finished, the two cadets began programming the probes' orbital velocity, orbital altitude, scanning radii, etc. Within a few minutes, the probes were set and ready to launch.

"Now that that's done," Fay said, "I'm going back to my quarters and crashing."

"You don't wanna stay up for a while and see the probes launch?" Miyu said teasingly. "It'll only be a few hours before we reach Cerinia IV."

Fay shot her a sarcastic smile along with a raised eyebrow.

Miyu laughed at her canine friend's reaction. "I'll let you go get some sleep. I guess a probe launch isn't anything you haven't seen before."

Fay giggled and rolled her eyes before heading to sickbay to grab a sedative to counteract the effects of the caffeine. A good night's sleep was definitely in order.

Within thirty-four hours, the _Trident_ was in orbit of Atruna III, a planet that sustained a pre-warp civilization on the verge of achieving faster-than-light travel. The research teams observed from a hidden based hidden in a cliff face, the façade of the base protected by a set of holoemitters. From the outside, one would never know that there was a Starfleet research station on the planet. While there, the maintenance crews made sure the holoemitters were in perfect working order. Failure of the holographic disguise would be far more disastrous than a few faulty food replicators. It was also an opportunity for the research teams to submit their monthly reports. It would be a perfect opportunity for Fay to study the progress of this civilization.

On the planet, Fay and Miyu ran into a familiar face, Bill Grey, another Cornerian attending Starfleet Academy. He was a Cornerian grey bulldog, and the oldest of the trio and Miyu's boyfriend. He was also a budding engineer, one of the best in Red Squad.

The trio struck up a conversation as Bill installed the new replicators and ran diagnostics to make sure they would remain operational until the end of their mission on Atruna III.

"So Bill, any more offers for a Chief Engineer position?" Miyu asked.

Bill laughed lightly and replied, "You have no idea. I though at least out here I would be able to get away from my professors trying to recruit me."

"Well technically you did," Miyu replied. "It's not your professors trying to recruit you, is it?"

"Ha ha. Very funny," Bill said in a lighthearted manner, laughing along with the two girls.

"How about you, ladies? How's life on the _Trident_? Hope exploring a star cluster isn't boring my baby to death."

"Sadly so, honey," Miyu said, "though Fay seems to be having the time of her life."

"Well, I am," Fay added. "What do you expect from an astrometrics major?"

"Long conversations with words I can't understand?"

Fay laughed, shaking her head and giving Miyu a light shove. "Thankfully we're almost done, so you won't be bored for too much longer."

"I was just hoping for more than just remapping stars."

"Well, maybe next year there'll be more exploring," Bill said. "Or maybe Starfleet's keeping us in the general area because we're cadets."

"Yeah, but c'mon!" Miyu said. "We fought against the Klingons in our freshman year!"

"And nearly died too!" Fay said. "I doubt Starfleet would wanna put us in that position again. Besides, one year against the Klingons was enough for me."

"Well, for me too. I'm talking more exploring, not remapping places Starfleet's already been."

"Well, look at it this way, this is the first time we've ever seen these places, so that's gotta count for something, right?"

Miyu let out a slightly exasperated sigh before asking, "Fay, do you know what Buzz Aldrin said when he stepped on Earth's moon?"

"No," Fay answered.

"Nobody does, 'cause Neil Armstrong went first."

"Well, actually," Bill chimed in, "Aldrin's first words on the moon were, 'Beautiful view. Magnificent desolation.'"

Miyu gave Bill a play slap with the back of her hand as Bill laughed.

"You know what I mean!" Miyu said, a laugh in her voice. "I wanna see something that no one else has seen. I wanna be the first to go there."

"Well so do a lot of other cadets, babe," Bill said, "but the thing is we're all still cadets. Yeah we're in Red Squad, but we're not full officers yet."

"I know," Miyu said, "but I just wanna get out there."

"Well, we only have one more year in the Academy," Fay added. "You're gonna get your chance soon enough."

"Nowhere near soon enough for me."

The trio kept chatting while the repairs were completed. The topics ranged from classes at the Academy, to plans for the summer break. Bill suggested that they all take a trip to Risa once the year ended, to which Fay enthusiastically agreed, especially considering it would be during the Lohlunat Festival, the Risian festival of the moon. Miyu joked about trying to get Fay's boyfriend to try to agree to that.

"Somehow, I don't see a Vulcan being too enthusiastic about going to the Lohlunat Festival," Miyu said.

Fay laughed and playfully slapped her friend's arm. "Geez, Miyu, you're just as bad as Falco sometimes."

"I'm just kidding around, Fay. I think James would like going to Risa. He's just too easy a target to poke fun at with his Vulcan side."

"Well, you're lucky he doesn't mind," Fay said. "You still better watch it when I'm around, you two." Fay shot them both a playful glare.

"What do you mean, 'you two'?" Bill asked.

"You think I don't catch you making fun of James' Vulcan side? Last I checked you call him green-blooded every other day."

"Better watch it, Bill," Miyu said. "Her aim with a phaser's been improving."

"Message received," Bill answered.

"It better be," Fay said, putting her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrow.

"Looks like you've been picking up a few things from James," Bill said.

"What do you mean?" Fay asked.

"The eyebrow."

"Oh. Well, good to know my practice has been paying off then."

Bill chuckled at Fay's response while Miyu smiled and rolled her eyes. As they laughed, a voice emitted from Fay's commbadge.

"Morrison to Cadet Spaniel," the commbadge said.

Fay tapped the badge and replied, "Go ahead, captain."

"I've just received word from the powers that be that you and Cadet Lynx are free to return to the _Trident_. Their engineers and science officers can take care of the rest down there."

"We're on our way, captain. Spaniel out." Fay tapped her commbadge and, with a high pitched tone, the channel was closed. "Well, looks like we're needed. I guess we'll see you back at the Academy, Bill."

"You bet," Bill said. "Be sure to ask James what he thinks about Risa."

"Sure thing."

"And make sure my girl here doesn't fall asleep on the job," Bill said, directing his attention toward Miyu. "I know it's not very exciting, babe, but they're still gonna need you."

Miyu gave Bill a soft punch on the arm and said, "You're lucky you're cute."

"It's my only defense against you. Thank God it still works."

Miyu giggled and gave Bill a quick kiss. As they broke apart, Miyu went to stand next to Fay.

Fay tapped her commbadge and opened a channel to the ship. "Spaniel to _Trident_ , two to beam up." Moments later, the two cadets were disintegrated in a beam of light and reappeared in the ship. As they left the transporter room and walked down the ships corridors to the turbolift, Fay let out a long yawn.

"Another long day, huh?" Miyu said.

"Mmhmm, and thankfully I don't have to man the nightshift this time," Fay replied.

"That's gotta be a nice feeling. As for me, I've gotta get back to engineering. Breakfast in Ten Forward at 0730 tomorrow?"

"You bet. I'm gonna head to my quarters. See you tomorrow morning."

The two cadets parted ways as they headed to their respective turbolifts. Once inside and headed to her quarters, Fay let out another long yawn, glad to be off duty. She was surprised at how something so mundane as resupplying a research outpost could be so taxing. Maybe it was just the monotony of taking inventory of medical supplies that caused her to want to shut down early for the day. And even though the mission she was on would be considered mundane for some, for her there was still some excitement of seeing these strange new worlds, even from afar, but watching medical officers restock hyposprays was not her idea of fun. Luckily, the _Trident_ would be underway to the final quadrant of the Arucanis Arm soon.

As she reached her quarters, Fay headed to the mirror in her bathroom and raised her eyebrow, checking to see if she really had picked up the trick. Her arched eyebrow did indeed bear a strong resemblance to the arch that her boyfriend had become well-known for. Fay giggled silently to herself and headed to the monitor embedded in the wall of her quarters. With a quick tap, the computer came to life.

"Computer, are there any messages from Starfleet?"

In a calm, emotionless woman's voice, the computer replied, "There is one message for Fay Spaniel. Message sent two hours ago from the Starfleet vessel USS _Hood_."

"Computer, play message," Fay calmly commanded. Upon her command, the screen darkened for a moment before revealing a face that made her smile. The face of her boyfriend, James Kavannagh.

The face was that of another Cornerian, the fourth of the four Cornerian cadets. He was a Cornerian fox, having brown fur, and gray eyes. He stood a few inches taller than Fay at 5'10" and had a toned build, but was less muscular than Bill. His most prominent facial feature was his eyebrows, which did not arch down around the top of his eyes, but rather straightened out across the top of his eye. One of the few physical features that he inherited from his Vulcan heritage.

"Hi, Fay," James said, a smile on his face as he said Fay's name. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to contact you earlier. I tried two hours ago but I was told you were down on the surface of Atruna III. If that's true, I take it you saw Bill down there. He sent me a message a few days ago and told me how things are progressing down there. From what I hear, the Atrunians should be developing warp drive within a few years. I know Bill wanted to be on one of the close contact surveillance teams, so here's hoping first contact doesn't occur before then. Though, given his impatience, maybe it's best to hold him back. I have a feeling he'd started talking about new alien races and planets with every person he walks past in one of the towns."

Fay giggled at the remark. Though, to be fair, that did sound like something Bill would do.

"So, if my math is right, it sounds like you guys will be delayed for a little under thirty-six hours. Well, I'm sure you won't mind that. You were always eager to be out there. As for me…well, our mission has been cut short…"

Fay cocked her head in confusion at his statement.

"…I know you probably don't want to hear this…but we had a little run in with the Klingons."

Fay's heart skipped a beat before beginning to beat slightly faster.

"Don't worry though, it was noting we couldn't handle. A freighter convoy sent out a distress signal and we were the closet ship to them so we had to move to assist. They'd been attacked by two Klingon marauders, Birds-of-Prey. Norgh-class. They weren't much of a challenge. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that we didn't face any boarding parties and we didn't lose anyone. A few crew members are still in sickbay, but there are no mortal wounds."

Fay slumped back, her heartbeat slowing when she heard that no one had been hurt, especially thankful that James had not had to face any boarding parties. Klingon warriors were renowned for their skill in battle, especially in melee combat, and for taking no prisoners.

"Still, the Klingons seem to have known exactly where to hit us. We've sustained a number of subsystem damages. Shields, weapons, and replicators have all been damaged. Auxiliary power is down about fifty percent and we can't seem to restore it. So, because of that, we're heading back to Earth Spacedock at maximum warp. We ought to arrive in about forty-two hours. I would have liked to finish the patrol, but we also wouldn't want the shields to go offline at the wrong moment."

Fay smiled at the voice of her boyfriend before he continued.

"So, I suppose I'll see you in about a week or so. I look forward to seeing you again, Fay. Be safe out there…I love you."

With those last words, the Starfleet insignia replaced James' face. Fay sat back smiling, happy to hear from James and glad to know that he was safe. Secretly, she was happy that he was heading back to Earth early. Due to his career as a tactical officer, his Red Squad missions had taken him on patrols close to the Klingon front. Fay always tried to reassure herself that James was a fine tactical officer and he was capable of taking care of himself, but there was a first time for everything. At least now she could relax, safe in the knowledge that James was headed back to Earth.

Fay stood from her seat and began to undo her uniform, intent on changing into some looser clothes and sitting down to listen to a bit of music, but as she undid the top of her uniform, a voice came from the intercom in her quarters.

"Cadet Spaniel, please report to the bridge," said the voice of Captain Morrison.

Fay gave a short, slightly exasperated sigh before buttoning her uniform backup. She tapped the panel on the wall, replying, "On my way, captain," and heading out the door.

As she arrived on the bridge, she found the captain talking to Miyu, who had arrived on the bridge a few moments earlier and had transferred engineering to the bridge at the main console.

"Ah, Miss Spaniel," Captain Morrison said. "I thought you might want to be here for this. Our sensors have detected an unknown warp signature in this sector."

Fay's eyes widened and her heart leaped into her chest when she heard the news: a chance to make first contact with a new alien race.

"I'd like you to review the sensor data and confirm the origin point," Captain Morrison continued. "Can you do that?"

"Right away, sir!" Fay replied enthusiastically as she quickly took her station and began to review the sensor logs. Morrison looked with amusement at her acting science officer before turning back to Miyu.

"Miss Lynx, are you absolutely certain that this warps signature doesn't match anything in our records?"

"Nothing, sir," Miyu replied, "Nothing comes even close to a match. It looks like this is a newcomer."

Morrison then turned to her first officer.

"Commander, are there any species in this sector that were close to developing warp drive?"

The first officer replied, "The Creona System has a civilization that was supposed to finish their first prototype warp ship within six months."

"You think they might have finished early?"

"It's possible."

"Hmm, Miss Spaniel, can you confirm that this warp signature originated from the Creona System?"

Fay gave no answer. Morrison looked over at the science station to see Fay leaned in closer to the console, a look of confusion on her face.

"Miss Spaniel, can you confirm the origin point?" Morrison replied.

"This can't be right," Fay muttered as she checked the coordinates.

"What is it?"

"…Captain, according to telemetry…this warp signature originated from the Cerinia System!"

All heads on the bridge turned to Fay, many with a look of surprise or confusion.

"That's not possible," the first officer said. "From what Starfleet has been able to tell, the civilization on Cerinia IV is still pre-industrial."

"I'm telling you, Commander, the warp signature originated from the Cerinia System," Fay said.

Somewhat skeptical, Morrison ordered, "Run a level 4 diagnostic on the long range sensors. They may be out of line."

"With all due respect, captain," Miyu spoke up, "I ran a level three diagnostic on the sensors when we launched to probes around Cerinia IV two days ago. They should be running fine."

"Noted, cadet," Morrison responded. "Run the diagnostic, Miss Spaniel."

"Aye, captain," Fay replied, as she sent a quick apologetic glace to Miyu, who had a look of minor annoyance on her face. As the diagnostic ran, the captain ordered the helm to lay in a course to the Cerinia System at maximum warp.

"Captain, shouldn't we wait until we've confirmed that the sensors are working normally?" the first officer asked

"I haven't given the order yet," Captain Morrison replied, "but if they are working properly, we need to get underway as soon as possible. We have several surveillance probes in orbit that we can't let the Cerinians find out about."

"The Prime Directive," the first officer responded, to which Morrison responded with a brief head nod.

A few moments later, Fay reported, "Diagnostic complete. The long range scanners are working just fine. Telemetry still points us to the Cerinia System, sir."

"Helm, take us to Cerinia IV, maximum warp! Engage!" Morrison commanded. Upon her command, the _Trident_ raced towards Cerinia IV at just below warp factor nine with a crew motivated to find out what was going on.

Of the many civilizations within the Arucanis Arm, Cerinia IV was among those that were not expected to achieve warp drive for several centuries. Since the system's discovery, numerous surveillance probes had been placed in orbit of the fourth planet. From the data the probes had collected, the Cerinian people were remarkably similar in physiology and appearance to the Cornerians and it had been hypothesized that perhaps they were a sort of proto-Cornerian race. There were a few notable differences however. For instance, while Cornerians were mainly canines with various vulpine and feline breeds in the mix, the Cerinians were almost solely vulpine in nature. Another interesting trait was the blue and white hides that each Cerinian inherited, a trait not found in Cornerians. Still, the physiology and genetic profiles of both species were remarkably similar, almost carbon copies.

From what Starfleet could gather from orbital surveillance probes, the Cerinians were a pre-industrial civilization, with technology similar to that of the late Iron Age on Earth and a society that some would describe as tribal. From these initial observations, Starfleet assumed that it would be centuries before the Cerinians would achieve warp drive.

Within nine hours, the _Trident_ had arrived in the Cerinia System and had assumed a position behind Cerinia IV's moon, hoping not to be detected as they began scanning the area. On the bridge, Morrison received the answer to the question that had kept her up all night.

"Sensors indicate that the warp trail originated from a standard orbit of Cerinia IV," Fay said. "There aren't any other warp signatures in the system, captain."

"So it was definitely launched from the planet," Morrison said.

"It had to have been," Miyu replied.

Just then, the computer signaled an alarm. "Captain, unknown ship approaching the planet at low warp!" Fay said

"Onscreen," Morrison ordered. Upon her command, the viewscreen brought up a small, bulky looking ship dropping out of warp. The ship looked to be about the technological equivalent of the _Phoenix_ , Earth's first warp-capable ship.

"Scan the vessel for life signs, Miss Spaniel," Morrison said.

"Aye, captain," Fay replied.

"Miss Lynx, scan for that ship's warp signature. I want to know if it's the same one our probes detected."

"Aye, sir," Miyu responded.

Fay was the first to report. "Captain, I'm detecting two life signs aboard that ship, both Cerinian."

Morrison looked at Fay, eyes wide in amazement.

"Captain," Miyu added, "that ship's warp signature is a direct match to the ones our probes picked up."

Morrison returned her gaze to the vessel on the viewscreen, her eyes still wide in amazement and her heart beginning to beat a bit faster at such an amazing discovery.

"Well, I imagine this is going to cause quite a debate back at Starfleet Headquarters," Morrison said.

Suddenly, the alien ship made a sharp turn away from its course towards the planet.

"Captain, the Cerinians are headed for one of our orbital probes!" Miyu said.

Morrison spun around, a look of shock briefly grazing her face before she quickly regained her composure.

"Can you lock on to the probe with the transporter?"

"Yes, captain," Miyu said, "but the Cerinians will see the probe vanish, won't they?"

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Morrison replied. "Better to leave them with a mystery than with alien technology. Beam the probe into Cargo Bay 2."

"Understood, sir." Miyu quickly returned to her console as Morrison tapped her commbadge to speak to the transporter chief.

"Chief, I need you to transfer control of the transporter to the engineering console on the bridge immediately."

"Understood, captain," the Chief said.

"I have control of the transporter, sir," Miyu said. "Transporter coordinates locked!"

"Energize!"

Upon command, the probe vanished from orbit in a silver stream of light. A few seconds later, Miyu reported. "The probe is in Cargo Bay 2, sir."

Morrison let out a sigh of relief before turning to Miyu and saying, "Well done, cadet."

"Sir," Fay said, "the Cerinian ship is returning to the planet surface."

"Thank you, Miss Spaniel. Helm, once the ship reenters the atmosphere, I want you to move in and retrieve the rest of the probes."

"Aye, sir," the helmsman replied.

"Miss Spaniel," Morrison said. "I want you and Miss Lynx to head down to the lab and start analyzing the data from that probe."

"Aye, captain," the cadets replied in unison as they headed into the turbolift and made their way to lab. As the doors to the turbolift shut, Fay turned to Miyu with a wide grin on her face and said, "How does it feel to be Neil Armstrong?"


End file.
